@Happygamer1983 do you have xpad loaded, see the linked topic, and my comment/test there?
I have tried to unload xpad but it did not fix my crashes
Steam support suggested to me to force update the controller firmware under Settings > Controllers > 'Show Advanced Settings' button > Controller Firmware, after this force update the issue seems fixed for now.
I can launch games with the controller connected and play said games.
If this helps anyone, @Happygamer1983's solution worked for me, however in order to see the "Controller Firmware" section in that settings window, I had to enable Client Beta Participation in Settings > Interface > Client Beta Participation. Only after starting the Beta client did Steam detect a firmware update for the Steam Controller.
I'm having the same problem, none of the above solutions worked, but Gemini of all things helped me pinpoint what was going on.
I'm running Fedora 44, KDE, Wayland, AMD using Terra Mesa drivers, specifically trying to play Diablo IV or Far Far West (issue occurred on both games).
Steam would only crash when a game is launched with the steam controller connected. Disconnect the controller, everything works fine.
I launched Steam via the terminal and it closes out with this:
Game Recording - Recording Started [recording=bg_2344520_20260523_024000]
First audio pts is 695.837642s
Recording new resolution 2560x1440 using bitrate 22000kbps
Capture method set to Game Vulkan NV12 + VAAPI HEVC
amdgpu: The CS has cancelled because the context is lost. This context is guilty of a hard recovery.
/home/hunter/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 966: 20636 Aborted (core dumped) "$STEAMROOT/$STEAMEXEPATH" "$@"
If I turn off background recording OR disable hardware acceleration for recordings, I can play with the controller just fine.
I'm completely dumbfounded, honestly.
I've been having games crash lately when the controller is turned on after the game has already loaded.
I am also experiencing Steam crashes when I launch a game while my Steam Controller is connected.
If I launch then game while the Steam controller is turned off, then turn on the Steam controller after the game has launched, I can use the controller as normal. Note that the controller dongle is plugged in the whole time (I do not have to unplug the controller before launching the game).
I have found this is true for TerraTech Legion, Slay The Spire 2, and Pathogenic. I suspect it is true for other titles (all titles?) beyond these.
I am on:
CachyOS
Nvidia 5090
9800X3D
ASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi / USBC Card (motherboard)
CORSAIR 64GB 2X32 6000 30 R B RAM
I am happy to provide Valve with logs if it will help debug, though I don't want to post them publicly due to PII.
If I try to launch a game while the Steam Controller is connected, there is about a 50% chance that Steam will either crash or hang indefinitely, and about a 50% chance that the game I was trying to launch will require a reinstall in order to successfully launch again.
Nothing extracted yet.
Your system information
tar -zcvf ~/Desktop/steam-logs.tar.gz ~/.steam/steam/logs]Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:
Expected behavior: Steam should not crash when playing games with the controller turned on.
Actual behavior: Steam crashes immediately on game launch when controller is enabled.
This happens on every installed game I have.
If controller is off/disconnected, steam launches the game fine without any issues.
Ive already tried to uninstall and reinstall steam, the crash happens on both the beta and non beta versions of steam.
Most of the time when steam crashes it has this error line in the log
Assertion Failed: Error while parsing text KeyValues for resource controller_mappingshowever there are also other errors even when doing the same steps.
Steps for reproducing this issue:
steam-logs.tar.gz